What are you working on?

Is it your business? Is it your side hustle? Is it your health? Is it your relationships? Or your mindfulness? 

It’s important to remember that all of these things take work. We don’t experience lasting, rich relationships as a by-product of being cool or popular or social. Healthy relationships take work, just like building a business does. We don’t experience peace as a result of everything going well in our lives. Inner stillness takes work, in response to the wins and losses we face each day.

The big difference is this: our culture doesn’t value these things in the same way it values business. When someone asks you what you’re working on, you’re unlikely to say that you’re working on being more patient with your family, or you’re working on taking deep breaths when you feel stress. And if you did tell someone that, you’d be unlikely to receive the same social reward as if you talked about a new side hustle idea. 

I recently heard that being exceptional in your career probably won’t help your relationships—but being exceptional at relationships will certainly help your career. The rejuvenation and meaning you get from healthy relationships away from work can only help you be more centered at work. But no one’s going to gas you up at a party for talking about that. 

In pursuit of living balanced lives, we need to work on all aspects of our lives. Even if our culture doesn’t value all of them equally. 

What are you working on?